And finally, here is the battle report. Drew lots for sides and the result was that Javier took command of the Kingfisher (and the sea serpent) and I did of the Ralgards.

The game starts by determining the wind direction, that was unfavorable to the Ralgard fleet. After that, squads are deployed alternately. As we were playing with few ships, cruises acted individually, not in escuadrons.

La serpiente marina (reglas de Crocidon) era sin duda el enemigo más peligroso. La parte mala para Javier es que no puede controlar su movimiento, siempre se dirige/ataca a la figura más cercana. La parte buena para Javier es que puede desplegarla en los laterales de la mesa, así que desplegó la serpiente muy cerquita de mis barcos... demasiado cerca.
------------------------------------------------------The sea snake (Crocidon rules) was definitely the most dangerous enemy. The bad part is that Javier can not control his movement, it always moves to/attacks the nearest figure. The good part for Javier is that he can deploy it on the sides of the table, and so the snake was deployed very close to my ships... too close.

----------------------------------------The second frigate fired at the snake, but couldn´t do any harm. The heavy cruiser continued it progress difficulty, cause this turn the wind changed it´s direction and now the ship was sailing head to wind.

-----------------------------------The sea serpent rammed this time one of the frigates. Although the impact was not as strong as before, the crew was also destroyed, though they sold their lives dearly.

No tuve en cuenta que los 3 puntos de daño restaban 3 dados de ataque, y resulta que cruzar la T por la proa no te da ningún bonus... Al final sólo conseguí causar un punto de daño. El Pez Espada continuaba a flote y era su turno...
------------------------------------------With only two operating boats (albeit very damaged) on the table, the game would be decided at this turn and initiative phase would be essential. We throw the dice and the initiative was for the Ralgard. Hooray!

Unfortunately I did not take the advantage of having the iniciative ... The logic maneuvre would have been ramming, as the Raknarl class cruiser is equipped with a ram that gives a tremendous destructive power, but with headwind (and because to my misinterpretation of the rules) I thought I would not get into contact. So, I decided to cross the T and shoot all the cannons within short distance. If I could make a critical hit (2 hull points) I would sunk the ship.

I was not aware that 3 attack dice were subtracted because of the 3 hull damages of the Ralgard ship, and that crossing the T does not give any bonus when doing through the prow... Finally I only managed to do one hull point of damage. The Swordfish remained afloat, and now it was her turn ...

The Swordfish crew was jumping and screaming with joy as they watched how the Ralgard heavy cruiser sank slowly. Its always impassive captain this time allowed himself a laugh. The snake had been hunted, he had captured an enemy frigate and the rest of the Ralgard fleet was annihilated. The history of this feat would pass form mouth to mouth in the taverns and would rain tenders for his services. True, the Swordfish was damaged and had lost many men, but he would overrun the money needed to fix it ... and funerals at sea are always economic.

Javier, thank you very much for your great pictures. I hope we can repeat soon!

For my Uncharted Seas ships I have decided to use transparent bases. For cruises I´ve used Spartan Games bases (from Firestorm Armada, I think) and for the smaller ships I´ve done the bases cutting a polycarbonate sheet. In order to create the watter effect I´ve used Watter Effects, a product from Woodland Scenics (the same I use for the samurai bases).

After that, using a wet brush, make grooves, waves, etc. Once dry it becomes transparent, shrinking slightly. It is preferable to repeat the process several times to pour lots of putty, as it would take a long time to become transparent.

Although I´ve had a very unproductive months for the hobby (I need time
to paint and/or update), as you have seen through the previous entries,
on Saturday we played a Uncharted Seas game and, for the occasion, I
painted some figures. The first is this Kingfisher class heavy cruiser.

Uncharted
Seas figures, especially the latest designs, are amazing. I even had
problems to paint some little details... It's a pitty that Spartan Games
set this game aside, but it looks that
they are very busy with Dystopian Wars and Firestorm Armada.

The
captain ordered general quarters and saw the helmsman awaiting
instructions. What he was going to order could be an absolute disaster
or a brilliant maneuver... Before he could even open his mouth, the
watchman raised a cry of alarm. The observation balloon was sending
signals.

Apparently there would be a new guest at the party ... The captain smiled and gave the order.

The captain of the Swordfish, a Kingfisher classheavy cruiser, shouted an oath... but he did it mentally. For the crew he kept the same calm look as always. Thety have just received signals from the observation balloon and the news were not good... They had lost track definitely.

For several days, the ship has been chasing a giant sea serpent that had decided to install its territory in the middle of a commercial route. In the last month, four large merchant ships had been lost, so that the authorities had the good sense to hire the best captain and the best ship in order to kill the monster.

The ship left the port ten days ago. On the seventh day, they had the first contact. The stories of the few survivors described a gigantic creature that overcome the main top castle when standing upright, although it was common thing that the memories of traumatized and barely alive sailors would tend to exaggeration. But this time it was not so. They managed to harpoon the creature but his enormous strength forced the captain to give the order to cut the rope, after several intense minutes of struggle in which the monster was about to capsize the boat and the captain came to fear that the creature could even rip the bow. The harpoon was not an option, but still had the guns...

Then there were several days of persecution. The wounded snake was elusive, but the observers on the balloon knew how to win his salary and spotted again and again the monster. Unfortunately, the tenth day had dawned with a thick fog, it was already past noon and the observers had failed to spot the creature since the previous day.

After this latest report from the balloon, the captain gave the order to head for the port. Giving some rest to the crew and resume the hunt in a few days would do no harm at all. Also, maybe after a while the creature would show less elusive.

At dawn on the eleventh day, the cries of the watchman brought the captain out of his cabin. The mist was clearing, revealing four boats that had been completely hidden until now, even for the observation balloon. The ships were so close that the captain did not need his spyglass to identify them. Just forward, toward the Swordfish, there were four Ralgard ships. Two frigates and two cruisers, probably a cruise and a heavy cruiser.

The Swordfish was faster but the enemy was very close and would be inevitable some cannon fire. The captain kept his usual calm and that reassured (a bit) the crew, but his mind was working flat out evaluating the possible options ...